Skaters on a Frozen Waterway Signed and Dated NJ Roosenboom
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NICOLAAS JOHANNES ROOSENBOOM (Schellingwoude 1805 – Assen 1880) Skaters on a Frozen Waterway signed and dated N.J. Roosenboom f. 39 in the lower left oil on panel 31 ¼ x 38 ⅝ inches (79.1 x 98 cm.) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Florida, circa 1968 until the present time By the end of the eighteenth century in Holland landscape painting’s popularity had seriously diminished. Only a small number of Italianate painters had carried on past the end of the seventeenth century. For the majority of the eighteenth century, landscape 1 painting existed solely as decorative wall paintings.1 Only at the end of the century did a revival begin, aided by a growing awareness of international interest in Dutch seventeenth century landscapes. The Romantic Movement, which had swept across Europe and come late to Holland, aided in the reassessment of landscape as a legitimate theme for the arts.2 In a speech given by the artist Cornelis Ploos van Amstel in 1781 at the Tekenacademie (Drawing Academy) in Amsterdam he put forth a plan of action for the revaluation of seventeenth century landscapes by his contemporaries. “If a Practitioner of Art contemplates and studies the works of art of these great men with diligence, taste and judgment and compares them with Nature, he will be seized by the desire to be able, where possible, to produce similar works of art himself.” Seized upon as the correct path, this route was implemented more or less for almost the next seventy years by a group of artists who created the landscape tradition of Dutch Romanticism.3 One of the dominant figures of this group was Andreas Schelfhout, who was dubbed by contemporary art critics as “the Claude Lorrain of the Winter Scene.”4 Collectors considered themselves lucky to own one of his ice skating scenes,5 and as a result students flocked to his studio in The Hague. Among them was Nicolaas Johannes Roosenboom who would go on to become one of his most successful pupils. Like his master, Roosenboom painted summer landscapes as well as river and beach scenes but specialized and became famous for winter landscapes. Heeding Van Amstel’s advice Schelfhout intensely studied seventeenth century paintings, drawing and prints and combined them with his own prodigious outdoor sketches, endlessly reworking them in his studio to achieve an infinite variety. Undoubtedly Roosenboom employed the same methods. The financial rewards of Roosenboom’s success enabled him to travel and move a great deal, which must have invaluably enriched his sketch-book. In 1829 he visited Germany. In 1830 he was working in The Hague. In 1835 he visited Scotland and Devonshire in England. In 1838 he was in Haarlem; by 1843 he was back in The Hague; in 1846 he was in Overveen; in 1847 Amsterdam; 1848 The Hague; 1852 Rotterdam; 1860 Brussels; 1862 Rotterdam; 1865 Haarlem; Westerbork from 1867-1869 and 1876-1878; Kapmen 1872; and finally Assen in 1878, moving households a dizzying fifteen times. For a while he collaborated with the Belgian animal painter Eugène Verboeckhoven. At some point he married Schelfhout’s daughter Maria Margaretha Cornelia and had four children. Interior scenes featuring his children are also known by Roosenboom. Of his four children the best known is the artist Margaretha Roosenboom. Trained by her father and grandfather, she is regarded as one of the nineteenth century’s 1 Ronald de Leeuw, “Towards a New Landscape Art” in The Hague School, Dutch Masters of the 19th Century, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London & traveling, 1983, p. 52. 2 John Sillevis, “Romanticism and Realism” in The Hague School, Dutch Masters of the 19th Century, op. cit., p. 42. 3 Leeuw, op. cit., p. 52. 4 Willem Laanstra, Andreas Schelfhout, 1787-1870, Rokin Art Press, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 42. 5 C.C.P. Marius, Dutch Painters of the 19th Century, Antique Collector’s Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1988, p. 92. 2 most important painters of flowers. In 1846 Roosenboom was elected to the board of directors of the Haarlem Drawing College (Teeken-Kollegie), whose motto was “Art is our Aim” (Kunst zij ons Doel). From 1826-1876 the artist showed at exhibitions in The Hague and Amsterdam. Besides his daughter other students included Frederik Marinus Kruseman, Cornelis Lieste and Johannes Petrus van Velzen. Roosenboom’s works formed part of the collection of the museums of Amsterdam, Brussels, Haarlem, Leiden, Otterloo, Rotterdam and Utrecht.6 Our skating scene dated 1839 is an early work in the artist’s oeuvre. Dated works by Roosenboom are rare with the majority of them starting in 1853 and later.7 This dazzling ice tableau enshrines the Romantic School’s celebration and glorification of nature. From a high vantage point a vast sky dominates a panoramic scene of a frozen waterway populated with skaters and sledges. Coupled with a low horizon line, the scene appears endless. Light and color complement one another exemplified by the cloud’s tonal range from grays to white, blue and beige echoed by the landscape below. The robust verticality of the windmills that line the riverbanks, as well as assorted houses, sails and posts, provide the needed balance to the composition’s otherwise overriding horizontality. In compliance with Romanticism’s ideology regarding the primacy of nature, the figures are of a diminutive stature. Yet Roosenboom took obvious delight in chronicling the details of the scene, and rather than portraying mankind being overwhelmed by the forces of a frigid winter, he portrays obvious joy in its pleasures. Snow tops the shuttered houses, mills, and entire town and trees on both sides of the river. Smoke snakes into the frozen air from the chimney of the house in the foreground. Next to it rows of cut logs lean against the windmill, with the beautifully rendered detail of the frosted panes of its cap window attesting to the necessity of such provisions. A holiday mood prevails on the ice. People slip and skate alone, as couples, or in synchronized groups. Sledges are pushed, rode or rested upon, while horse drawn sleighs traverse the ice. In the mid ground a crowd gathers around a koek en zopie for refreshments.8 The patterning of the participants’ shadows against the luminosity of the ice further enhances the impression of continuous motion throughout the composition. We are compelled to follow their progress into the far reaches of the panel and by doing so are simultaneously awed by the scope of nature’s grandeur. We would very much like to thank Charles Dumas of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague for his assistance in the writing of this entry. 6 Biographical information taken from Pieter A. Scheen, “Nicolaas Johannes Roosenboom” in Lexicon Nederlandse Beeldende Kunstenaars 1750-1880, Uitgeverij Pieter A. Scheen BV, ‘s-Gravenhage, 1981, p. 438; Laanstra, op. cit., pp. 62-63; and Annemieke Hoogenboom, “Andreas Schelfhout” in Grove – The Dictionary of Art, volume 28, Macmillan Publishers Limited, London, 1996, p. 72. 7 Written communication from Charles Dumas, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie dated September 27, 2011. 8 A koek en zopie is a stall with roots from the seventeenth century, but still found today set up for the selling of cake and drink on the ice. Zopie was made from bock beer and rum with eggs, cinnamon and cloves and served hot. 3 .